I AM SO HAPPY! My nan said that she would wait until I came back home to visit before she started gardening so that I could garden with her! Although it won't be as awesome as it usually is because I can't garden all of the time, etc, I'm still happy that I'll be able to at least do some of the gardening.

_________________"...anarchists only want to burn cars and punch cops."- nickvicious"We'll be eating our own words 30 years from now when we're demanding our legislators outlaw aerosol-based cyber dildo-wielding death holograms."- Brian

Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2010 1:31 pmPosts: 1544Location: In the land of Druids and Moonrakers

The first little green shoots from my seeds have started to pop up - peas, broad beans, rocket, pak choi, radishes. So happy! In less happy news, we had an unexpected hard frost last night, and even with my careful plant wrapping, it has killed off my newly outplanted runner bean seedlings. Poor little things. I didn't harden them off enough, and so I feel guilty.

Woo! I'm taking a gardening class (well "Intro to Alternative Agriculture") this (my last) quarter in college so I'll actually have pictures this year! Though, gardening for a class is a bit weird, I'm a plant/soil geek as I've probably intimated in the past. I don't have photos of my garden yet, but I'm trying my damndest to keep the tomato plants I grafted a month or so ago alive until it's warm enough to put them in the ground, with mixed success. I need to get some bigger pots for them, but I didn't want to break all of the containerizing rules by putting them from cell-packs straight into 12" pots and I'm not made of money so I'm trying to get them decently rooted in repurposed containers before putting them in nicer, more suitable homes. I'm worried their starting to get more etiolated that I'd like, I'm giving them all the sun I can manage (putting them on the roof when it's warm enough, moving them around the house with the sun...) I'm annoyingly attached to the suckers because they're my first successful tomato grafts. Enough of my geekery. Hopefully I'll have garden pictures on Monday!

Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2011 11:51 amPosts: 6025Location: United States of New England

we got a really early jump on our garden this year. hopefully we didnt start too early.

last weekend we planted some potatoes that we had harvested last fall and kept in our basement all winter. they sprouted really long shoots so i dunno. we planted the potato part in the ground and left part of the shoot out.we also planted some shallots that i ordered last year but they shipped us in the spring. we didnt think they would survive a new england winter if we planted them last fall (although it ended up being a super mild winter)

we also planted some snap peas. one row i did from peas i harvested from our plants last year and one row was from a seed packet.

so far nothing has done anything. it's only been a week but i thought we might see teeny pea shoots. nothing yet. the shallot packages tell you to leave 1/4 of the shallot above the soil and they look no different than when i planted them.

i guess i am impatient!!

we still have some kale from last year out there though it looks like they are bolting. i snipped the tops off. have no clue what that will do but i did it.

yesterday we planted some more kale, then some spinach and lettuce plants we got from a local garden center.we also planted carrot and onion seeds. we've had no good lukc with carrots so who knows what will happen. our onions always sprout but are super super thin (they are scallion type onions).and our lettuce always bolts. so we'll see.

i harvested 3 of my kale plants a few nights ago and will probably do the rest tomorrow. I am going to the farmer's market and trying to figure out what to put in their place- i think there will be tomatoes, but i am going to do those in containers. I was thinking about doing some green beans and cucumbers where they are, but i really have no idea what would be good. My overwintered broccoli is going strong and tonight i am going to cut it back and use it to make Joanna's thai bowl.

I planted a bunch of stuff in february- just stuck the seeds in the ground and they are finally coming along, i have peas, lettuce, radishes, beets, kohlrabi and carrots. The squirrels or something dug up a bunch of the beet and carrot seeds, so i'll put something else where they didn't come in. The radishes look about ready and its really warming up, so i hope to be eating them soon. zxcvb

My project this year is garlic. Some bulbs of eating garlic started sprouting so I put them in some soil and I'm going to see how it goes.

I did that last year, after what felt like an eternity of it "not doing anything" I dug it up to find it had been doing something! Impatience probably isn't the best quality for a gardener...

I've planted out a concord pear tree and a morello cherry today, I've had the pear in a big pot on the patio for several years now but the cherry is a new addition to the garden which I'm pretty excited about. I don't think you can buy morello cherries in the uk, I've certainly never seen them, so it'll be great to have my own tree! I'm not sure that I'm going to get anything off it this year though, it hasn't got any blossom so I'm not too hopeful.

We are finally doing our first veg and herb garden this year. Excited but scared! I have terrible habit of killing anything living, so the hubs is doing the most of the tending once things get started. We are still waiting for our frost advisory's to be over in NJ. So nothing has been transplanted outside yet. Hopefully within the next week or two we will be able to start outside. I can't wait to post pics and eat everything! Yahoo for organic back yard gardening.

The tree is his penis // it's very exciting // when held up to his mouth // the lights are all lighting // his eyes start a-bulging // in unbridled glee // the tree is his penis // its beauty, effulgent -amandabear

I will go out and take pictures as soon as my body stops hurting everywhere. Until then, I'll describe what we did this weekend. First we had 10 cu yds of garden soil delivered. Then we built boxes for raised beds in the front yard. It's a big horseshoe with a square box inside the horseshoe. The big veggie garden in the back doubled in size. We dug grass, built boxes, moved all the soil, planted plants, and set up a rain barrel in two days. And this weekend the black flies came out. So I'm covered in fly bites, and I hurt all over. But I'm a happy camper because I'll be able to have a really big garden this year and hopefully have lots of pictures of the finished products!

we did a round of weeding, spread 6 bags of mulch, ripped out a bunch of fennel that has started taking over the entire yard.i thinned my kale and spinach.my tomato seedlings are starting to get a few more leaves, so i think they're ready to go outside as soon as night temperatures even out a little bit.i'll be happy when everything is outside. i have too many plastic boxes full of greenery to keep the cat out of.

_________________I'm one of those vegans that cuts corners when it comes to things like breastfeeding and stabbing you in the face~PranjalThat story would be adorable if it didn't end with herpes. ~Mo

my salad has come up (!!! first salad ever!) but it's staying in leaves instead of becoming the big salad heads as it said on the packet. Am I supposed to cover up the stems, or something? I moved some plants out of the container where they sprouted thinking they needed more space to get bigger, but it hasn't made a difference.And about spinach, will they grow again if I cut them? And how should I cut them so make them grow again?

THis year I'm only doing leaves. I wanted to grow bell peppers but they didn't come up, and the eggplants might still grow but they are still so super tiny I don#t think I'll ever see the fruits.

_________________I dunno, I guess I just get enthused over eating big ol' squishy balls. - Interrobang?!

My neighbourhood has a facebook page, and I posted something about Food not Grass, and if anyone else might be interested in doing it.I got one response:"wow. I hope not. I don't want to live on a farm or next to one. i like green lawns, shrubs & flowers. I even think the ornamental grasses planted between the street & sidewalk appear unkempt & detract from the s/d. The backyard is a great place for veggie gardens."

my salad has come up (!!! first salad ever!) but it's staying in leaves instead of becoming the big salad heads as it said on the packet. Am I supposed to cover up the stems, or something?

And about spinach, will they grow again if I cut them? And how should I cut them so make them grow again?

I'm not sure what you mean by salad - maybe lettuce? If it is a heading type, it should eventually head up, unless it prematurely bolts first. But with both it and the spinach, I'd harvest the older leaves rather than cutting the plants back from the top, until they start to bolt (send up fowering shoots.) Then I'd cut the spinach back and it should send out some new shoots from the side, for a smaller harvest. If your other plant is lettuce, once it starts to bolt it will get extremely bitter.

_________________Formerly Kaleicious. I still love kale, but no more than lots of other garden greens too! Orach is currently my favorite.

Yes, I meant lettuce. I had trouble finding my words in that post (not to mention the typos! OMG!)The thing with the lettuce leaves is that they made a tiny stem and big leaves out of it, but the leaves stay open and just get larger, without the heart of the lettuce growing in.I"ll try cutting the larger leaves of the spinach then. Thank you for the suggestions Jill!

_________________I dunno, I guess I just get enthused over eating big ol' squishy balls. - Interrobang?!

Anek, Crisphead Lettuce probably takes a couple months for heads to form, so your plants could just be building up energy now. I generally grow leaf lettuces or Romaine, and harvest the outer leaves continuously, but doing that with crispheads might mean smaller heads, once they form. Sometimes if the weather gets hot too quickly, lettuces will bolt and not form heads at all, but if your leaves are really big now, that's a good sign.

_________________Formerly Kaleicious. I still love kale, but no more than lots of other garden greens too! Orach is currently my favorite.

Guys, I am so happy with my garden this year. I really maximized the space so I have 15 tomato plants, plus eggplants, peppers, cucumbers, okra, herbs, and I used the gutter on the fence trick I saw on Pinterest to plant the herbs and some lettuce and spinaches and collards (i've misplaced my kale seeds). I put some of my marigolds in pots and hanging planters so I can move them about as needed, and I still have a few empty pots that i'm gonna put more greens in, I just need some more dirt. I raided my FIL's stash of decaying boards to make some paths to keep the weeds down and hopefully the dogs won't poop on the boards so i'll be less likely to step in dog shiitake.

_________________"The Tree is His Penis"

The tree is his penis // it's very exciting // when held up to his mouth // the lights are all lighting // his eyes start a-bulging // in unbridled glee // the tree is his penis // its beauty, effulgent -amandabear

my raised beds are built and filled with dirt. I'm still nervous to transplant my veggies out to them though. They are so well protected inside, I don't want them to die out there. So far I've got, grape tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, bell peppers, kale, cucumbers, and chard seedlings hanging out in my kitchen. The chard doesn't look so great, of course the seed package said not to start indoors, but I did anyways.

I don't know how they're attached to the house, but we put brackets on the fence and then set the gutters on top, with dirt they're heavy enough to stay put.

_________________"The Tree is His Penis"

The tree is his penis // it's very exciting // when held up to his mouth // the lights are all lighting // his eyes start a-bulging // in unbridled glee // the tree is his penis // its beauty, effulgent -amandabear